Tuesday, July 4, 2017

The year is 2222 AD. Earth is under attack by the Voltegians, another alien menace that's about to crush our little planet into oblivion. As the pilot of the small spaceship Whip Rush, you're Earth's only hope of escaping a dreadful fate. So gear up and prepare to dart into a series of treacherous environments in a mission that owes more than it seems to R-Type, while building upon the rudimentary mold seen in Arrow Flash.

Regarding the console part of the previous sentence, it's clear to me that Sega must have had a powerful say in Whip Rush despite most sources stating the game was solely developed by Vic Tokai. In any case, it's easy to dismiss Whip Rush as another run of the mill 16-bit shmup. Graphics (simple) and music (mostly grating and unremarkable) are to blame for that, but as it sometimes happens with such games this is one of those cases where the act of pursuing a high score definitely shines. Behind the humble aesthetics lies a scoring system that's cleverly designed to reward the player's performance, as well as a difficulty slope that's a lot more obtuse than in your average 16-bit blaster.

In short, clearing Whip Rush isn't supposed to be hard. Scoring well, on the other hand, is a completely different matter.

The asteroid field of stage 4

All three original buttons in the Mega Drive controller are used to handle the spaceship. Fire with B, set flying speed with A and control the options with C (this setup is customizable). Autofire is enabled by default, there are 8 speed settings and a small gallery of power-ups makes it simple to manage your arsenal. Upon releasing an item it always cycles in the following order: L (laser weapon) → M (missile weapon) → F (fireball weapon) → P (power claw / option) → L → etc. Upgrading any of the three weapons is achieved by picking up successive items of the same type, a process that's maxed out once the third power-up is collected. If you get hit when using one of these weapons you're sent back to the default shot, only dying when hit in that condition.

Up to two options can be activated by collecting the P item, and while they naturally add more firepower to the bare ship it's the use of the C button that really makes them an incredible attack resource. Note that they don't possess any defensive capabilities and also don't cause any damage on contact when resting in their native spots. That said, the effect of the C button depends on whether you're firing or not. Whenever you're firing, options will bounce outward and inward really fast in a "whipping" effect, spreading your firepower and finally causing damage to the targeted enemies. If the ship is not firing, each press of the C button alternates option alignment from vertical to horizontal and vice-versa, thus slightly changing the reach and the firing pattern of your current weapon.

Though not bombastic in any specific area or section, Whip Rush has it all in terms of variety in the stage design, which gets more and more claustrophobic as the game progresses. The wide open screens of the first stages are nowhere to be seen in the second half of the game, which is prone to changing environments and scrolling direction more than once in the same level. Expect caverns, water, fortresses and moving blocks galore, as well as bosses that grow in size and ability to cover their weak spots. Did I say Whip Rush owes a lot to R-Type? Well, it does. And it does it really well if we consider inspiration alone.

With extends given with 50.000, 100.000 points and at every interval of 100.000 points after that, it's easy to see that life counter inflating after a while. Even more important for the scoring side of things is the fact that each remaining life is converted into 100.000 points upon beating the game. And considering that every surplus power-up of the same weapon type is worth 5.000 points once you're maxed out, cruising through the game unscathed should be every score chaser's primary aim (every time you get hit you'll lose at least 15.000 points, for example).

Deliver mankind from doom!(courtesy of YouTube user FunCade 64)

A few factors are responsible for taking Whip Rush off the batch of regular 16-bit shooters. One of them is the exquisite balance between weapons. They are all useful but none of them will make you feel completely comfortable. The laser is the strongest one, but lacks any sort of rear firepower. Missiles are somewhat weaker, but can fire backwards and possess a faint homing ability. Unfortunately both laser and missiles lack a vertical shot, such as the one that comes with an option-laden default gun. On the other hand, this is somewhat provided by the counter-directional nature of the fireball, an all-around weapon that requires a higher degree of control to be properly used.

Rank is the other fine aspect of Whip Rush. If you manage to go on without getting hit the game will become harder and enemies will shoot more and more frequently. The aggression increase is rather subtle though, and mostly unnoticeable if you're constantly getting shot and having to repower the ship. Speaking of power-ups, note how the ship glows briefly whenever you pick up an item: at that very moment you're invincible, which means you can get through bullets and walls unharmed. Taking advantage of this extremely cool feature is definitely possible in several points throughout the game.

I admit it took me a long time and a little push from a few shmupper friends to play Whip Rush again, but I'm glad I did it. It's more fun than I had initially thought, and it also has what it takes to offer a decent challenge for the more ambitious players. My best 1CC high score on Normal difficulty was improved by 109%.